Album Review – Josh Ward’s “Same Ol’ Cowboy, Different Rodeo”


#510 (Traditional Country) on the Country DDS.

You want country? Try getting thrown off a horse named Tiny who goes about 1,200 pounds and 16 hands, who then proceeds to stomp on your guts like a barn mouse. Then you’re such a tough SOB, you refuse medical treatment until you darn near bleed out internally, doc has to cut you open, drain two Jim Beam bottle’s worth of blood from your abdomen, cut a foot off your intestine like you’re fitting irrigation pipe, then stuff it all back in, sewing it all up, and sending you on your way.

That’s the reason Josh Ward hasn’t released a new album since 2018, so quit your bellyaching. What’s your measly excuse for not getting stuff done?

The ordeal was one hell of a weight loss program for Josh Ward too, though probably not the one Jenny Craig would recommend. It also gave Ward an opportunity to reflect, re-evaluate, and be grateful for life. But don’t worry, the incident didn’t cause Ward to waiver from his position as one of the staunchest country traditionalists in Texas or anywhere else. As his new album Same Ol’ Cowboy, Different Rodeo proves, he ain’t doing nothing but doubling down on that hard country sound.

It’s fiddle. It’s steel guitar. It’s songs about raising hell. It’s sentimental songs about the most important things in life. Everybody’s all behind Zach Top these days like he’s a blast from the past and doing something novel in the present tense. No offense to Top who’s excellent, but Josh Ward is one of these guys who’s been doing the 90s traditional country thing almost since the ’90s. He’s just been scandalously under the radar except on Texas country radio.


To be perfectly honest, though the sound has always been there for Josh, sometimes the songs leave a little bit to be desired. That’s not the story with Same Ol’ Cowboy. Sure, he doesn’t stray too far from familiar country music themes. But the seven years away gave Ward ample time to find or co-write a dozen really strong songs that illustrate the greatness that is true country music.

In the writing credits you see Carson Chamberlain, who was Keith Whitley’s old bandleader and the guy behind Zach Top’s recent success. You also see Randall King and Jake Worthington—two of major label country’s best traditionalists. Songs like “There’s A Drink For That” and “Beer Joint Down” get you revved up. But the heartbreaking “Talkin’ To Your Picture,” and the ruminative “Walkin’ In My Boots” about watching your boy become the man you are happen to be excellent specimens of country songwriting.

Josh Ward doesn’t co-write everything, but he has enough credits to make this album feel like his own. And most importantly, he puts his whole soul and guts into singing and delivering these songs, while co-producing the album with Drew Hall and Kerry West. Hell, you can’t even tell a foot of those guts is gone now. Ward’s better off for it though. To sing it, you gotta live it. And Josh Ward has lived it.

Same Ol’ Cowboy, Different Rodeo is just a great listening record, meaning one you turn on, don’t skip a track, and don’t mind if it repeats again. True traditional country might be in vogue once again. But even if it wasn’t, Josh Ward would be singing and playing it, and living his songs out down in Texas, getting bucked off, but getting right back up on that horse once again.

1 3/4 Guns Up (8.1/10)

– – – – – – – – –

Purchase/stream Same Ol’ Cowboy, Different Rodeo

© 2025 Saving Country Music